If old parquet is to be removed, the Gretchenfrage. Is it a floating parquet or is it glued? While loose parquet panels can be broken open and removed with little effort, glued floor coverings normally require a great deal of force, which can only be exerted by special machines.

Reuse and tool

Anyone who wants to remove an old parquet and would like to relocate it later, can only consider this possibility with loosely laid parquet panels without gluing. For most glued parquet, the old material can not be saved and due to the relatively brute distance, the old parquet is almost always unusable.

When choosing tools, do not rely on common household multifunction machines and hire professional equipment for faster and less physically demanding work. After the assessment of your parquet, let us advise you on the most promising approach. A single clamped or cut sample can help the skilled person to better assess the effort and the machines needed.

Elaborate and dirty

In most cases, the removal of glued parquet is a very exhausting and unpleasant work. In older floors and structures, the black color of the adhesives used may indicate a particular toxicity due to specific hydrocarbons. When removing, always wear respiratory and eye protection and do not transfer residues on work clothing to other rooms.

Depending on the depth of the floor, an individual case may be the best decision to perform only a rough removal of the adhesive residue after dismantling the parquet and to coat the remains with a leveling compound such as cement and a sealing layer such as elephant skin. It must of course be considered that the total height level of the soil thereby increases.

Step-by-Step Guide

screwdriver

Pincers or carpenter hammer

hammer

chisel

chisel

Carpet knife or cutter

Kuhfuß

stripper

Electric steel spatula

Handkreissäge

Carbide saw blades

Biscuit Joiner

oxygen mask

safety goggles

working gloves

Work clothes and shoes

1. Remove baseboards

Before the dismantling of the parquet can begin, the baseboards must be completely removed. Depending on whether you are screwed or nailed down, disassemble each one individually. The wooden strips are then still useful under normal circumstances.

2. Search for installed cables

Frequently, electric cables or even gas or water pipes were led under parquet or in the cracks of the lateral expansion joints. Reliable checking and, if necessary, dismantling of the cables is indispensable because damage can be dangerous.

3. Occupational safety

Wear work gloves and put on protective goggles. Your work clothes should only be worn in the workroom and taken off when leaving. Here disposable coveralls are very good. Wear sturdy shoes, which can deflect flying wood splinters.

4. Break out wood

Apply with a cow foot or a bar iron in place of the expansion joint with the largest width and break out the first parquet. Depending on the breaking behavior, continue to work with the cow foot or nail iron or break out wood with a hammer, chisel and wood chisel.

5. Saw the parquet

Depending on the parquet thickness and type, the sawing of grooves can help. Set a circular saw to the height of the parquet thickness, insert the carbide saw blade, saw the horizontal and vertical grooves and break it off piece by piece.

6. Do not pay attention to wood residues

When chipping the wood for the first time, leave chipping or wood residues that are stuck, as they will be removed when working on the exposed ground.

7. Remove glue residue

In addition to protective clothing and glasses, put on a breathing mask. Using the stripper, the electric steel spatula or the flat dowel bur, start to remove the wood and glue residue piece by piece and expose the substrate to the screed or bare concrete.

8. Cut portions

Using the same principle as the grooves created with the circular saw, you can use a wallpaper knife to cut even cuts in the check pattern into the remnants to allow partial removal.

Tips & Tricks

Before removing your parquet plan the removal of the waste. It is rubble, which may still have to be separated in order to be later accepted by waste disposal companies such as municipal construction yards. Inquire in advance about proper disposal and the required sorting of waste materials.